129-505: The Bharatiya Janata Party Information Technology Cell (commonly known as BJP IT Cell or BJP Social Media Cell ) is a department of the Indian political party BJP that manages social media campaigns for the party and its members. Amit Malviya has been in charge of the IT Cell since 2015. According to The Washington Post , 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting
258-477: A Rath Yatra (chariot journey) to Ayodhya in support of the Ram temple movement. According to Guha, the imagery employed by the yatra was "religious, allusive, militant, masculine, and anti-Muslim". Advani was placed under preventive detention on the orders of the then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav . A large number of kar sevaks (religious volunteers) nonetheless converged at Ayodhya, and some attacked
387-537: A Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures . The party's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh , which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician Syama Prasad Mukherjee , after he left Hindu Mahasabha to form a party as the political wing of RSS. After
516-551: A joint session of the Parliament, where the numerical superior Lok Sabha allowed the bill to pass. The act was subsequently used to prosecute hundreds of people accused of terrorism. However, it was criticised by opposition parties and scholars for being an infringement upon civil liberties , and the National Human Rights Commission of India stated that it had been used to target Muslims. It
645-721: A BJP cyber-volunteer in the BJP IT Cell said that the organisation disseminated misogyny, Islamophobia and hatred. The network of volunteers of BJP take instructions from the BJP IT Cell and two affiliated organisations to troll users who are critical of the BJP. Journalists and Indian film actors are also among their targets. In November 2015 Aamir Khan , an Indian Muslim actor, expressed concern about rising intolerance in India in response to political events in India that included violent attacks against Muslims and intellectuals , and
774-521: A Hindu country to the exclusion of other religions, making the BJP a Hindu nationalist party in a general sense. The BJP moderated its stance after the NDA was formed in 1998, due to the presence of parties with a broader set of ideologies. The BJP's Hindutva ideology has been reflected in many of its government policies. It supports the construction of the Ram Mandir temple at the disputed site of
903-437: A Telegram Premium subscription have a number of "boosts" that they can give to channels, which allow the channel to "level up" and unlock features, such as the ability to customize messages or post stories as the channel. In December 2019, Bloomberg News moved their messenger-based newsletter service from WhatsApp to Telegram after the former banned bulk and automated messaging. Other news services with official channels on
1032-527: A blog post that Telegram had reached "about 500 million" monthly active users. In August, TechCrunch reported that India was Telegram's largest market, with a 22% share of total installs coming from the region. Telegram then gained over 70 million new users as a result of an outage which affected Facebook and its affiliates on 5 October 2021. In March 2022, Telegram's usage share in Russia had jumped to 63%, overtaking WhatsApp 's usage share of 32% to become
1161-476: A coalition; this caused the shelving of the Jana Sangh's more radical agenda. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency . The Jana Sangh took part in the widespread protests, with thousands of its members being imprisoned along with other agitators across the country. In 1977, the emergency was withdrawn and general elections were held. The Jana Sangh merged with parties from across
1290-406: A code message sent to one of the active sessions on another device. Users have the option to set a two-step verification password and add a recovery email. In late 2022, options to Sign in with Apple and Sign In with Google or with an email address were added. Whenever a new device successfully logs in to a user's account, a special service notification is sent and a login alert is displayed in
1419-549: A criterion for citizenship under Indian law : it attracted global criticism , and sparked widespread protests that were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic . Counter-demonstrations against the protests developed into the 2020 Delhi riots , caused chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 53 people killed, two-thirds were Muslim. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India reinstated the controversial Section 377 of
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#17328023593841548-635: A historian, and stated that the appointment was part of an agenda of cultural nationalism. Over its first term the Modi administration appointed other RSS members to lead universities and research institutions, and recruitment of faculty members favoring the RSS increased. Scholars Nandini Sundar and Kiran Bhatty write that many of these appointees did not possess the qualifications for their positions. The Modi administration also made numerous changes in government-approved history textbooks. These changes de-emphasizing
1677-750: A low figure relative to the number of seats it won. This was the first instance since 1984 of a single party achieving an outright majority in the Indian Parliament and the first time that it achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own strength. Support was concentrated in the Hindi-speaking belt in North-central India. The magnitude of the victory was not predicted by most opinion and exit polls. Political analysts have suggested several reasons for this victory, including
1806-562: A medium-range ballistic missile. They were seen as an attempt to display India's military prowess to the world, and a reflection of anti-Pakistan sentiment within the BJP. The Vajpayee government ordered the Indian armed forces to expel the Pakistani soldiers occupying Kashmir territory, later known as the Kargil War . Although the government was later criticised for the intelligence failures that did not detect Pakistani presence, it
1935-452: A minor presence in parliament until 1967. The Jana Sangh's first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir into India. Mukherjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir. He died of a heart attack the following month, while still in jail. Mauli Chandra Sharma
2064-554: A more protectionist turn on international trade during his second term, withdrawing from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks and introducing the 2020 Atmanirbhar Bharat economic plan, which emphasises national self-sufficiency. Compared to Congress, the BJP takes a more aggressive and nationalistic position on defence policy and terrorism. The Vajpayee-led NDA government carried out nuclear weapons tests and enacted
2193-433: A more aggressive stance on defence and terror and neo-liberal economic policies. In 2001, Bangaru Laxman , then the BJP president, was filmed accepting a bribe in a sting operation . He was compelled to resign and was subsequently prosecuted, eventually being sentenced to four years in prison. On 27 February 2002, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burned outside the town of Godhra , killing 59 people. The incident
2322-406: A new chat to hold the messages or adding them to an existing one. As users can be logged into many devices at once, starting to type a message on one of them will create a “cloud draft” that syncs with others, so typing can be started on a phone and finished on a laptop, for example. Any message in any chat can be translated by opening the context menu. Premium users have the option to translate
2451-604: A period set by the user, ranging from 1 day to 1 year. Telegram users can create and join groups and channels. Groups are large multi-user chats that support up to 200,000 members and can be public or private. Users can freely join public chats and find them using the in-app search function, while private chats require an invitation. They support flexible admin rights and can use bots for moderation to prevent spam and unwanted activity. Groups can be split into topics, effectively creating subgroups dedicated to various subjects with separate settings for each. Admins can choose to hide
2580-514: A radical shift from BJP orthodoxy while maintaining some aspects of it. Its policy also represented a significant change from the Nehruvian idealism of previous governments, opting instead for realism. His party criticised him for adopting a much more moderate stance with Pakistan. In 1998, he made a landmark visit to Pakistan, and inaugurated the Delhi–Lahore Bus service. Vajpayee signed
2709-422: A recording of the call, noise suppression and selective muting. In channels, users can start a livestream , that is able to integrate with third-party apps such as OBS Studio and XSplit . Once launched, a group voice chat will remain active and open to all group members until an admin specifically closes it. By default, logging into Telegram requires either an SMS message sent to the registered number or
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#17328023593842838-426: A screen with a thread of replies made to that message and the subsequent ones in the thread. Specific users can be tagged in the group by adding @username to a message, where “username” is that particular user's username. Groups and channels also support polls, which can be open or anonymous and can support multiple choices. When forwarded, polls retain the answer data and any votes cast in other chats will count toward
2967-610: A significant influence on the BJP's ideology. During the Cold War, the party and its affiliates strongly opposed India's long standing policy of non-alignment , and instead advocated closeness to the United States. In the post-Cold War era, the party has largely embraced the Indian foreign policy consensus of improving relations with the United States, while stressing a desire for a more multipolar world order. The Vajpayee government's foreign policy in many ways represented
3096-473: A strongly neo-liberal agenda, presented as a drive towards development. Its policies have included extensive privatisation of infrastructure and services, as well as a significant rollback of labour and environmental regulations. While this was praised by the business community, commentators criticised it as catering to the BJP's upper-class constituency instead of the poor. The economic policies of Modi's government focused on privatisation and liberalisation of
3225-637: A symbol of revolt against the British Raj . Lotus is also recognised as the national flower of India . Thus, use of the symbol gives the party a nationalist as well as Hindutva appeal. Besides these, the party also heavily uses the Saffron colour in its promotional materials and campaigning. Similar to Lotus, the Saffron colour also has a major significance within Hinduism. The most common flag used by
3354-498: A temple once stood there. The agitation was on the basis of the belief that the site is the birthplace of Rama, and that a temple had been demolished to construct the mosque. The BJP threw its support behind this campaign and made it a part of their election platform. It won 86 Lok Sabha seats in 1989, a tally which made its support crucial to the National Front government of V. P. Singh . In September 1990, Advani began
3483-403: A trace. Users have the option to delete messages and whole chats for both themself and other participants. Chats can be exported to preserve them via Telegram's Desktop client, although the saved data cannot be imported back into the user's account. Users can however import chat history, including both messages and media, from WhatsApp, Line and KakaoTalk due to data portability , either making
3612-407: A user chooses to hide their profile photo, they have an option of setting an alternative "Public Profile Picture" that will be shown instead. In the same menu, users can restrict the circle of people who can call them or invite them to groups and channels, while Premium users also have the option to restrict who can send them voice messages. The Devices submenu shows all of the active devices on
3741-409: A user's account and allows them to remotely log out from those devices. Telegram clients have the ability to turn off media autoplay and automatic downloads for both WiFi and mobile data, adjusting them for media type and size. Auto download settings can also be applied based on chat type such as group, channel or private. Cache settings can be changed to automatically clear the cache once it reaches
3870-399: A user's contacts being able to see them. Sign-ups can only be done via an Android or iOS device. Upon signing up, messages sent and received by the user are tied to their number and a custom username, not the device. Any Telegram content is synced between the user's logged-in devices automatically through cloud storage, except for device-specific secret chats. By default, any account that
3999-615: A vast network of WhatsApp groups. An investigation by a publicly funded news agency, Newslaundry , revealed the organisational structure of the IT Cell: The state IT cell has 25 members in the core team with Rai as its head. Each regional centre had 20 members and a team of 15 handled IT at each of the 92 districts. Seven member teams worked at the block levels. At the regional, district and Assembly level, BJP had approximately 5,000 workers. A separate team of 20 professionals – including technicians, designers, and cartoonists – created
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4128-759: Is a cloud-based , cross-platform , social media and instant messaging (IM) service. It was originally launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android on 20 October 2013. It allows users to exchange messages, share media and files, and hold private and group voice or video calls as well as public livestreams . It is available for Android , iOS , Windows , macOS , Linux , and web browsers . Telegram offers end-to-end encryption in voice and video calls, and in optional private chats, which Telegram calls Secret Chats. Telegram also has social networking features, allowing users to post stories , create large public groups with up to 200,000 members, or share one-way updates to unlimited audiences in so-called channels. Telegram
4257-671: Is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress . Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation . Its policies adhere to Hindutva ,
4386-527: Is a significant range of economic ideologies within the party. In the 1980s, like the Jana Sangh , it reflected the thinking of the RSS and its affiliates. It supported swadeshi (the promotion of indigenous industries and products) and a protectionist export policy. However, it supported internal economic liberalisation , and opposed the state-driven industrialisation favoured by the Congress. During
4515-655: Is inactive for 6 months is automatically deleted, though the period can be shortened or extended up to 18 months through the Settings menu. Telegram allows groups, bots and channels with a verified social media or Misplaced Pages page to be verified, but not individual user accounts. Messages can contain formatted text, media, files up to 2 GB (4 GB with Premium), locations and audio or video messages recorded in-app. Telegram messages in private chats can be edited up to 48 hours after they were sent with an “edited” icon appearing to reflect changes, as well as deleted for both sides without
4644-469: Is opposed to same-sex marriage , stating in a legal affidavit that legalizing it would cause "complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country" and that it was "not comparable with Indian family unit concept of a husband, wife & children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as 'husband', a biological woman as 'wife' and children born out of union". The BJP's economic policy has changed considerably since its founding. There
4773-511: The 1984 general election , it grew in strength on the back of the movement around Ram Janmabhoomi in Uttar Pradesh . Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest political party in the Parliament in 1996; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under its then-leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee , lasted for only 13 days. After
4902-548: The 1998 general election , the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under prime minister Vajpayee formed a government that lasted for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government—again headed by Vajpayee—lasted for a full term in office; this was the first non-Congress government to do so. In the 2004 general election , the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, and for
5031-481: The 2017 Doklam standoff with China. The Modi government considers national security to be one of their key focuses and has implemented many long-standing defence reforms. In August 2019, the Modi government established the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to ensure better coordination between all three services, a reform that was widely requested after the 1999 Kargil War. The Department of Military Affairs
5160-543: The Babri Mosque . This issue was its major poll plank in the 1991 general elections. However, the demolition of the mosque during a BJP rally in 1992 resulted in a backlash against it, leading to a decline of the temple's prominence in its agenda. The education policy of the NDA government reorganised the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and tasked it with extensively revising
5289-546: The Bharatiya Jana Sangh , popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 in response to the politics of the dominant National Congress party . It was founded in collaboration with the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and was widely regarded as the political arm of the RSS. The Jana Sangh's aims included the protection of India's "Hindu" cultural identity, in addition to countering what it perceived to be
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5418-475: The Lahore Declaration , which was an attempt to improve Indo-Pakistani relations that deteriorated after the 1998 nuclear tests. However, the presence of Pakistani soldiers and militants in the disputed Kashmir territory was discovered a few months later, causing the 1999 Kargil War . The war ended a couple of months later, with the expulsion of the infiltrators two months later, without any shift in
5547-534: The Line of Control that marked the de facto border between the two countries. Despite the war, Vajpayee continued to display a willingness to engage Pakistan in dialogue. This was not well received among the BJP cadre, who criticised the government for being "weak". This faction of the BJP asserted itself at the post-Kargil Agra summit , preventing any significant deal from being reached. Telegram (software) Telegram Messenger , commonly known as Telegram ,
5676-651: The Prevention of Terrorism Act , which later came under heavy criticism. It also deployed troops to evict infiltrators from Kargil, and supported the United States War on Terror . Although previous Congress governments developed the capability for a nuclear weapons test, the Vajpayee government broke with India's historical strategy of avoiding it and authorised Pokhran-II , a series of five nuclear tests in 1998. The tests came soon after Pakistan tested
5805-761: The Shiv Sena in addition to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Biju Janata Dal . Among these regional parties, the Shiv Sena was the only one that had an ideology similar to the BJP; Amartya Sen , for example, called the coalition an "ad hoc" grouping. The NDA had a majority with outside support from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. However,
5934-426: The Uttar Pradesh assembly. On 6 December 1992, the RSS and its affiliates organised a rally involving more than 100,000 VHP and BJP activists at the site of the mosque. The rally developed into a frenzied attack that ended with the demolition of the mosque . Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted all over the country, killing over 2,000 people. The government briefly banned
6063-477: The WebP or WebM format and do not require special software to create or upload. Some stickers feature full-screen effects that play out when first sent or when tapped. Users can schedule messages to send at a particular time or when their conversation partner comes online, as well as choose to send a message “without sound” without a notification. Messages from private chats can be forwarded, with an option to hide
6192-537: The special status given to Jammu and Kashmir . After assembly elections across the country in 1967, the party entered into a coalition with several other parties, including the Swatantra Party and the socialists. It formed governments in various states across the Hindi Belt , including Madhya Pradesh , Bihar and Uttar Pradesh . It was the first time the Jana Sangh held political office, albeit within
6321-492: The 1996 elections, and later when it was in government, the BJP shifted its stance away from protectionism and towards globalisation . The tenure of the NDA saw an unprecedented influx of foreign companies in India. This was criticised, including by the BJP's affiliates, the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch: the RSS stated that the BJP was not being true to its swadeshi ideology. The two NDA governments in
6450-752: The 8XR game engine. Since 2017, Telegram users have been able to initiate one-on-one calls in private chats. Calls are end-to-end encrypted and prioritize peer-to-peer connections. Video calls were introduced in August 2020. According to Telegram, there is a neural network working to learn various technical parameters about a call to provide better quality of service for future uses. Telegram added group voice chats in December 2020 and group video chats in June 2021. Group voice and video chats support picture-in-picture video, as well as sharing one's screen, creating
6579-475: The 950 million monthly active user milestone in summer 2024. To start using Telegram, a user must sign-up with their phone number or an anonymous +888 number purchased from the Fragment blockchain platform. Changing the phone number in the app will automatically reassign the user's account to that number without the need to export data or notify their contacts. Phone numbers are hidden by default with only
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#17328023593846708-520: The BJP government has enacted several priorities of the RSS, including criminalising the practice of triple talaq , and revoking Article 370 of the Constitution of India (which granted autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir ), abrogating its statehood . India has experienced nationwide democratic backsliding under the BJP's rule since 2014 . The name as well as the symbol of the party were selected by
6837-523: The BJP in their global network. However, BJP's youth organisation remains a member of the youth wing of the IDU. During Modi's first term as prime minister, the BJP expanded its presence in several states where it had previously been a minor player, and it regained power in other states where it had been in opposition for a considerable period. Assam , Tripura , Arunachal Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Haryana , and Jammu and Kashmir saw an increase in
6966-548: The BJP's electoral campaigns, while the Modi administration appointed a number of individuals affiliated with the RSS to prominent government positions. In 2014, Yellapragada Sudershan Rao , who had previously been associated with the RSS, became the chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). Historians and former members of the ICHR, including those sympathetic to the BJP, questioned his credentials as
7095-548: The BJP's influence, and the party entered government in several of these states. In 2019, the BJP won the general election with an increased majority. Soon after returning to power, on 5 August 2019, the Modi administration revoked the special status, or limited autonomy , granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir —a region administered by India as a state. This state consists of
7224-641: The Brazilian government from Q1 to Q3 of 2024, and a total of 6,992 legal requests from India, Its largest market, during the same period. users can check how many legal requests from their country have been processed by Telegram using the official transparency bot. In October 2013, Telegram announced that it had 100,000 daily active users. On 24 March 2014, Telegram announced that it had reached 35 million monthly users and 15 million daily active users. In October 2014, South Korean government surveillance plans drove many of its citizens to switch to Telegram from
7353-588: The Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the Janata Party ; it defeated the then-incumbent Indian National Congress in the 1977 general election . After three years in power, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the modern-day BJP. Although initially unsuccessful—winning only two seats in
7482-505: The Indian Penal Code , which, among other things, criminalises homosexuality. There was a popular outcry, although clerics, including Muslim religious leaders, stated that they supported the verdict. BJP president Rajnath Singh said that the party supported Section 377, because it believed that homosexuality was unnatural, though the party softened the stance after its victory in the 2014 general elections. The Modi government
7611-533: The Jana Sangh remained relatively unchanged, retaining a strong association with the RSS, which did not sit well with the moderate centre-right constituents of the Party. Violence between Hindus and Muslims increased sharply during the years that the Janata Party formed the government, with former Jana Sangha members being implicated in the riots in Aligarh and Jamshedpur in 1978–79. The other major constituents of
7740-417: The Janata Party demanded that the former Jana Sangh members should dissociate themselves from the RSS, which they refused to do. Eventually, a fragment of the Janata Party broke off to form the Janata Party (Secular) . The Morarji Desai government was reduced to a minority in the Parliament, forcing Desai's resignation. Following a brief period of coalition rule, general elections were held in 1980, in which
7869-568: The Janata Party fared poorly, winning only 31 seats. In April 1980, shortly after the elections, the National Executive Council of the Janata Party banned its members from being 'dual members' of party and the RSS. In response, the former Jana Sangh members left to create a new political party, known as the Bharatiya Janata Party. Although the newly formed BJP was technically distinct from the Jana Sangh,
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#17328023593847998-875: The Korean app KakaoTalk . In December 2014, Telegram announced that it had 50 million active users, generating 1 billion daily messages, and that it had 1 million new users signing up on its service every week, traffic doubled in five months with 2 billion daily messages. In September 2015, Telegram announced that the app had 60 million active users and delivered 12 billion daily messages. In February 2016, Telegram announced that it had 100 million monthly active users, with 350,000 new users signing up every day, delivering 15 billion messages daily. In December 2017, Telegram reached 180 million monthly active users. By March 2018, that number had doubled, with Telegram reaching 200 million monthly active users. On 14 March 2019, Pavel said that "3 million new users signed up for Telegram within
8127-656: The MTProto protocol that is the basis for the messenger, while Pavel provided financial support and infrastructure through his Digital Fortress fund. Telegram Messenger states that its end goal is not to bring profit, but it is not structured as a non-profit organization. Telegram is registered as a company in the British Virgin Islands and as an LLC in Dubai. It does not disclose where it rents offices or which legal entities it uses to rent them, citing
8256-515: The Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha for the following 5 years. It lost the Karnataka assembly election in 2013. In the 2014 Indian general election , the BJP won 282 seats, leading the NDA to a tally of 336 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the 14th prime minister of India on 26 May 2014. The vote share of the BJP was 31% of all votes cast,
8385-521: The VHP, and many BJP leaders, including Advani were arrested for making inflammatory speeches provoking the demolition. Several historians have said that the demolition was the product of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar, and not a spontaneous act. In the parliamentary elections in 1996, the BJP capitalised on the communal polarisation that followed the demolition to win 161 Lok Sabha seats, making it
8514-417: The absence of swift or strong condemnation from the country's ruling BJP Modi government. Khosla said that BJP responded with an online campaign through its social media cell to intimidate Khan. Khan at the time was a spokesperson for Snapdeal . Modi supporters bombarded the company with orders and later cancelled them, resulting in the company distancing itself from Khan, though a planned boycott of his film at
8643-535: The alliance governs 17 Indian states and union territories. The official ideology of the BJP is integral humanism , first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965. The party advocates social conservatism and a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. During its first period in national government, the BJP avoided its Hindu nationalist priorities, and focused on a largely liberal economic policy that prioritised globalisation and economic growth over social welfare . Since returning to government in 2014,
8772-506: The appeasement of Muslim people and the country of Pakistan by the Congress party and then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . The RSS loaned several of its leading pracharaks , or full-time workers, to the Jana Sangh to get the new party off the ground. Prominent among these was Deendayal Upadhyaya , who was appointed General Secretary. The Jana Sangh won only three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952 . It maintained
8901-480: The area who have opted into the feature. Chats can be sorted into folders to organize them with preset options like "Unread" and "Muted? or custom separations such as "Work" and "Family". Premium users have the ability to set any chat folder as the default screen in the app while regular users will always see the full chat list when first opening the app. Users have the option to start a one-on-one, end-to-end-encrypted “Secret Chat”, which remains accessible only on
9030-432: The bulk of its rank and file were identical to its predecessor, with Vajpayee being its first president. Historian Ramachandra Guha writes that the early 1980s were marked by a wave of violence between Hindus and Muslims. The BJP initially moderated the Hindu nationalist stance of its predecessor the Jana Sangh to gain a wider appeal, emphasising its links to the Janata Party and the ideology of Gandhian socialism . This
9159-531: The chat list of their other devices. In the Privacy and Security submenu of Settings, users have the option to hide their “Last Seen” status, which reflects the last time the user opened a Telegram app. Hiding the status obfuscates the exact time of the user being online and hides the statuses of other people respectively. Similarly, users can hide their phone number and profile photo from people based on categories such as Non-Contacts or by adding exceptions. When
9288-545: The coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK, J. Jayalalithaa , withdrew her support, and fresh elections were held again. On 13 October 1999, without the AIADMK, the NDA won 303 seats in parliament and thus an outright majority. The BJP had its highest-ever tally of 183. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time; Advani became Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister . This NDA government lasted its full term of five years. Its policy agenda included
9417-412: The country's largest unions went on strike, including one affiliated with the BJP. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh , a constituent of the Sangh Parivar, stated that the underlying motivation of labour reforms favoured corporations over labourers. Modi has been described as taking a more economically populist approach on healthcare and agricultural policy. Modi's government has also been described as taking
9546-592: The demolition. He was accused of posting bureaucrats and police officers who would stay silent during the demolition. In 2020, the Supreme Court of India acquitted all of the accused in the demolition including Advani and Joshi. Following the 2019 Supreme Court verdict , the Government of India announced a trust to construct the Mandir. On 22 January 2024, the Ram Mandir was officially opened. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led its consecration, claiming it to be
9675-546: The desired content for the party. JPS Rathore, a member of the UP-BJP's IT Cell described the motives of the organisation as follows: "Our aim was to capture the mind of the voter. To message them night and day. Whenever they look, they should see us, hear our message. (Humari rajniti thi ki chunav ke pehle voter ke dimag ko capture kar lo. Subeh – shaam message bhejo . Jab dekhe , humara chehra dekhe , humari baat sune)” The Indian Express reported that Amit Malviya,
9804-612: The device where it was started and self-destructs upon logging out. Secret Chats restrict screenshotting from Android devices and warn when one is taken from an iOS device, while also hiding the chat contents from the final image. Secret Chats support perfect forward secrecy and switch encryption keys after a key has been used 100 times or a week has passed. Secret Chats are only available on Android, iOS and macOS clients. Both in Secret and regular chats, messages can self-destruct after they are read, disappearing for all parties after
9933-730: The differential procedures required to protect the cultural identity of the Muslim minority. The BJP favoured, and in 2019 enacted, the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India , which granted a greater degree of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir in recognition of the unusual circumstances surrounding its accession to the Indian Union . It simultaneously abrogated Jammu and Kashmir statehood , reorganizing it into two union territories , Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh . The BJP opposes illegal immigration into India from Bangladesh . The party states that this migration, mostly in
10062-468: The economy, based on a neoliberal framework. Modi liberalised India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including in defence and the railways. Other proposed reforms included making it harder for workers to form unions and easier for employers to hire and fire them; some of these proposals were dropped after protests. The reforms drew strong opposition from unions: on 2 September 2015, eleven of
10191-610: The fears of India’s Hindu majority across a vast network of WhatsApp groups . The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the first political party in India to acknowledge and use the power of social media in mobilising public opinion. The Twitter account for senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (then Chief Minister of Gujarat ) was created in 2009, while senior Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi waited until 2015 to come to that platform. The BJP orchestrates online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate perceived government critics. Sadhavi Khosla,
10320-417: The founders. The name "Bharatiya Janata Party" literally translates to "Indian People's Party". The Symbol of the party is the flower Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) . Lotus has a cultural significance within India as well as Hinduism . The symbol has been regarded as a symbol of peace and prosperity within Hinduism. Likewise, during the independence movement of India , the symbol was used by Indian nationalist as
10449-473: The head of the IT Cell, admitted that the NaMo TV channel was run by the IT Cell. Another 2021 article describes the "Hindu Ecosystem" (as described by Kapil Mishra whose group was infiltrated by Newslaundry journalists) and its methodology. Mishra tweeted a Google forms link (which is still active and can be accessed from the original article) asking for details such as the name, mobile number and email-ID of
10578-403: The history has been widely described as a right-wing party , but has recently been described as far-right or part of the radical right, a subset of the far-right that does not oppose democracy. The official philosophy of the BJP is " Integral humanism ," a philosophy first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965, who described it as advocating an "indigenous economic model that puts
10707-409: The human being at center stage." It is committed to Hindutva , an ideology articulated by Indian independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar . According to the party, Hindutva is cultural nationalism favouring Indian culture over westernisation , thus it extends to all Indians regardless of religion. Scholars and political analysts describe Hindutva as seeking to redefine India and recast it as
10836-750: The larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute among India, Pakistan , and China since 1947. Later in 2019, the Modi administration introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 , which was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for illegal immigrants of Hindu , Sikh , Buddhist , Jain , Parsi , or Christian religion, who had fled persecution from Pakistan , Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014. Muslims from those countries were not given such eligibility. The act
10965-480: The largest party in parliament. Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister but was unable to attain a majority in the Lok Sabha, forcing the government to resign after 13 days. A 2009 report , authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan , found that 68 people were responsible for the demolition, mostly leaders from the BJP. Among those named were Vajpayee, Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi . The report also criticised Kalyan Singh , Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during
11094-534: The last 24 hours." He did not specify what prompted this flood of new sign-ups, but the period matched a prolonged technical outage experienced by Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as of October 2019, Telegram had 300 million monthly active users worldwide. On 24 April 2020, Telegram announced that it had reached 400 million monthly active users. On 8 January 2021, Pavel announced in
11223-480: The leader of the Jana Sangh, was appointed the Minister of External Affairs . The national leadership of the former Jana Sangh consciously renounced its identity, and attempted to integrate with the political culture of the Janata Party, based on Gandhian and Hindu traditionalist principles. Political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot wrote that this proved to be impossible assimilation. The state and local levels of
11352-427: The list of members in a group, as well as post anonymously themselves. Similarly, groups and channels can have content protection enabled, which prevents screenshots, forwarding and downloading of media. Ownership of channels and groups can be transferred to one of the admins if the owner wishes to give up their rights. Groups support threaded replies, where bringing up the context menu on a message allows one to open
11481-399: The mosque. Three days of fighting with the paramilitary forces ended with the deaths of several kar sevaks . Hindus were urged by VHP to "take revenge" for these deaths, resulting in riots against Muslims across Uttar Pradesh. The BJP withdrew its support from the V.P. Singh government, leading to fresh general elections. The BJP further increased its tally to 120 seats, and won a majority in
11610-533: The most popular instant messaging app in the country. On 19 June 2022, Telegram announced that it had reached 700 million monthly active users. In July 2023, Telegram had more than 800 million monthly active users. Since July 2023, Telegram had been the most popular social media in Russia, with a market share of 46.8% as of December 2023. As of March 2024, Telegram has more than 900 million monthly active users according to Pavel. Pavel announced on his personal Telegram channel (t.me/pavel) that Telegram had hit
11739-673: The need to "shelter the team from unnecessary influence" and protect users from governmental data requests. After Pavel left Russia in 2014, he was said to be moving from country to country with a small group of computer programmers consisting of 15 core members. While a former employee of VK said that Telegram had employees in Saint Petersburg , Pavel said the Telegram team made Berlin , Germany, its headquarters in 2014, but failed to obtain German residence permits for everyone on
11868-407: The next ten years, the BJP was the principal opposition party. Narendra Modi, then the chief minister of Gujarat , led the party to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election . Modi has since led the NDA government as Indian prime minister, including being re-elected with a sole majority in the 2019 general election and with a coalition in the 2024 general election . As of December 2023,
11997-617: The number of users. It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021 with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021. Telegram was launched in 2013 by the brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov . Previously, the pair founded the Russian social network VK , which they left in 2014, saying it had been taken over by the government. Pavel sold his remaining stake in VK and left Russia after resisting government pressure. Nikolai created
12126-439: The original sender's identity or to hide captions from media messages. Forwarded messages also maintain reply formatting, able to show which messages in a thread are replying to others. Any user can also send a message to a special “Saved Messages” chat as a form of bookmarking them. The contents of the chat are only visible to the user. Users can opt-in to People Nearby by turning on their phone's GPS location to see other users in
12255-764: The overall total. Channels are one-way feeds where the channel owner or admins can post content while followers can only read, react and comment, if comments have been enabled. Channels can be created for broadcasting messages to an unlimited number of subscribers. The list of those who subscribe to a channel can only be seen by its admins. Posting in the channel is anonymous, though admins can choose to add signatures to their posts. Channels offer detailed statistics on view counts, user growth and interactions, also visible only to admins. Channel owners are able to use Telegram to create giveaways, randomly awarding channel members with prizes such as Telegram Premium subscriptions to their followers, based on certain criteria. Users with
12384-417: The party is predominantly saffron with a stripe of green in the left. Within the Saffron part of the flag, the lotus symbol is also integrated. This particular colour scheme used in the flag assists the party to project itself as a secular party. Meanwhile, this also helps the party to maintain a religious undertone for its core electorate and Hindu nationalistic supporter groups . The BJP's origins lie in
12513-509: The party like Lal Krishna Advani , Murli Manohar Joshi , and Jaswant Singh amongst others were allegedly sidelined. In 2016, the BJP joined the International Democratic Union , a grouping of various centre-right and right-wing political parties across the globe. However, as of 2024, the party is no longer a member, the secretary general of the IDU, Tina Mercep, stated that they would welcome full membership of
12642-466: The party of government in Assam. The Modi administration passed a citizenship law in 2019 which provided a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan , Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus , Sikhs , Buddhists , Jains , Parsis or Christians . The law does not grant such eligibility to Muslims . This was first time religion had been overtly used as
12771-411: The period 1998–2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government-owned enterprises. It also introduced tariff-reducing measures. These reforms built off of the initial economic liberalisation introduced by the P. V. Narasimha Rao-led Congress government in the early 1990s. India's GDP growth increased substantially during the tenure of the NDA. The 2004 campaign slogan India Shining
12900-413: The philosophy of integral humanism , which formed the official doctrine of the party. Younger leaders, such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani also became involved with the leadership in this period, with Vajpayee succeeding Upadhyaya as president in 1968. The major themes on the party's agenda during this period were legislating a uniform civil code , banning cow slaughter and abolishing
13029-603: The platform include the Financial Times , Business Insider and The New York Times . Channels have also been used by governments and heads of state. Notable examples include Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron . Channels have been used by journalists in oppressive regimes to establish independent news networks. Telegram also provides an open API for the creation of custom bots which can perform various tasks, integrate other services into Telegram chats, or work as mini apps or games. Most of them work on
13158-578: The political spectrum, including the Socialist Party , the Congress (O) and the Bharatiya Lok Dal to form the Janata Party, with its main agenda being defeating Indira Gandhi. The Janata Party won a majority in 1977 and formed a government with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. The former Jana Sangh contributed the largest tally to the Janata Party's parliamentary contingent, with 93 seats or 31% of its strength. Vajpayee , previously
13287-416: The popularity of Modi, and the loss of support for the Congress due to the corruption scandals in its previous term. The BJP was also able to expand its traditionally upper-caste, upper-class support base and received significant support from middle-class and Dalit people, as well as among Other Backward Classes . Its support among Muslims remained low; only 8% of Muslim voters voted for the BJP. The BJP
13416-653: The respondents, calling them to join the Hindu Ecosystem. It also asked the respondents for 'Any Special area of interest (sic)' such as 'Gauraksha, Gauseva, Fight Love Jihad, Ghar Wapasi, Halal, Mandir Nirmal, Hindu Ekta, Sewa in general etc (sic).' A Telegram group of over 20,000 people was created who work 'in an organised fashion'. There was a 'Twitter Team' with 5000 members. Most of the volunteers joining these groups were male and had upper caste surnames. Topics were shared every week with documents full of 'sample tweets' -- hyperlinks to typed tweets with which all
13545-412: The role of Jawaharlal Nehru , and glorifying that of Modi himself, while also portraying Indian society as harmonious, without conflict or inequity. The BJP supports a uniform civil code , which would apply a common set of personal laws to every citizen regardless of their personal religion, replacing the existing laws which vary by religious community. Historian Yogendra Malik writes that this ignores
13674-513: The sender had to do was send the completed tweet. Volunteers were instructed to send the tweets at a specific time in order to artificially brew a Twitter storm with the sheer number of tweets from the WhatsApp and Telegram groups. Common BJP talking points were thus propagated aggressively across social media. Several 'toolkits' full of (inaccurate) information attacking China or Islam were shared, with instructions on how to present and disseminate
13803-586: The shared information. Sub groups were created where content was compiled and talking-points were generated about certain topics, and days were designated for the generation of content on specific days to propagate online. PDF files running into hundreds of pages full of posts were used as social media posts to drown out dissenting opinions. Bharatiya Janata Party ( 4013 MLAs & 23 Vacant) ( 403 MLCs & 23 Vacant) The Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP , [bʱaːɾətiːjə dʒənətaː paːɾʈiː] ; lit. ' Indian People's Party ' )
13932-561: The slogan " India Shining ", which sought to depict it as responsible for a rapid economic transformation of the country. However, the NDA unexpectedly suffered a heavy defeat, winning only 186 seats in the Lok Sabha , compared to the 222 of the Congress and its allies. Manmohan Singh succeeded Vajpayee as Prime Minister as the head of the United Progressive Alliance . The NDA's failure to reach out to rural Indians
14061-545: The start of a new era. The temple is expected to be fully completed by December 2024. A coalition of regional parties formed the government in 1996, but this grouping was short-lived, and mid-term polls were held in 1998. The BJP contested the elections leading a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which contained its existing allies like the Samata Party , the Shiromani Akali Dal ,
14190-441: The states of Assam and West Bengal, threatens the security, economy and stability of the country. Academics have pointed out that the BJP refers to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh as refugees, and reserves the term "illegal" for Muslim migrants. Academic Michael Gillan perceived it as an attempt to use an emotive issue to mobilise Hindu sentiment in a region where the party has not been historically successful. The party later became
14319-674: The team and moved to other jurisdictions in early 2015. Since 2017, the company has been based in Dubai. Its data centers are spread across a complex corporate structure of shell companies in various jurisdictions to avoid compliance with government subpoenas . The company says this is done "to protect the data that is not covered by end-to-end encryption". Telegram's FAQ page says it does not process any requests related to illegal content in chats and group chats, and that "to this day, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user messages to third parties, including governments". however, according to Pavel, Telegram has disclosed data for 203 legal requests from
14448-451: The textbooks used in Indian schools. Various scholars have stated that this revision, especially in the case of history textbooks, was a covert attempt to " saffronise " Indian history. The NDA government introduced Hindu astrology as a subject in college curricula, despite opposition from several leading scientists. Links between the BJP and the RSS grew stronger under the Modi administration. The RSS provided organisational support to
14577-728: The time, Dangal , by BJP supporters proved unsuccessful. Derek O'Brien , a member of Parliament had raised the topic of online hate in the Rajya Sabha , India's upper house. He had questioned why Narendra Modi followed cyber-bullies on social media, and said "We are mainstreaming hate". He also asked if the Modi administration would issue an advisory asking government officials to stop following Twitter users that regularly send abusive messages and obscenities. The government did not respond to this request. In December 2020, Twitter took restrictive action against Amit Malviya , IT Cell in charge, and tagged his posts as 'manipulated media'. This
14706-579: The violence, as were police officers who allegedly directed the rioters and gave them lists of Muslim-owned properties. In April 2009, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate and expedite the Gujarat riots cases. In 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by the SIT. BJP MLA Maya Kodnani , who later held a cabinet portfolio in the Modi government,
14835-679: The whole chat with one click. Users can hide the translate button for messages written in specific languages. Reactions can be used to respond to a message with emoji, with Premium users having access to more reaction choices and the ability to leave more reactions per message. Reactions are always on in private chats and can be enabled by admins in groups and channels with the ability to allow or exclude specific reactions. Reaction emoji play an animation with special effects when sent. Users can also send stickers, which can be static, animated or video. Sticker packs are made by Telegram designers as well as regular users and can be shared via links. They use
14964-570: Was also established and put under the CDS. The historical stance of the BJP towards foreign policy , like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was based on an aggressive Hindu nationalism combined with economic protectionism. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded with the explicit aim of reversing the partition of India ; as a result, its official position was that the existence of Pakistan was illegitimate. This antagonism toward Pakistan remains
15093-421: Was also very successful at mobilizing its supporters and raising voter turnout among them. After winning the election, the organisation of the BJP became more centralised with Modi at the helm. People loyal to Modi were rewarded leadership positions across various states within India. Amit Shah , a close confidant of Modi, was appointed as the president of the BJP in 2014. Contextually, many veteran leaders of
15222-735: Was appointed president of the party, and under him it became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. In the early 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Rama at the disputed site of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya . The mosque had been constructed by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1527. There is a dispute about whether
15351-465: Was based on the party's belief that the free market would bring prosperity to all sectors of society. After its unexpected defeat, commentators said that it was punished for neglecting the needs of the poor and focusing too much on its corporate allies. This shift in the economic policies of the BJP was also visible in state governments, especially in Gujarat, where the BJP held power for 16 years. Modi's government, in power from 2002 to 2014, followed
15480-477: Was convicted of having orchestrated one of the riots and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment; she was later acquitted by the Gujarat High Court . Scholars such as Paul Brass , Martha Nussbaum and Dipankar Gupta have said that there was a high level of state complicity in the incidents. Vajpayee called for early elections in 2004 , six months ahead of schedule. The NDA's campaign was based on
15609-489: Was elected to succeed Mukherjee; however, he was forced out of power by the RSS activists within the party, and the leadership went instead to Upadhyaya. Upadhyay remained the General Secretary until 1967, and worked to build a committed grassroots organisation in the image of the RSS. The party minimised engagement with the public, focusing instead on building its network of propagandists. Upadhyaya also articulated
15738-570: Was founded in 2013 by Nikolai and Pavel Durov . Its servers are distributed worldwide with several data centers, while the headquarters is in Dubai , United Arab Emirates . Telegram is the most popular instant messaging application in parts of Europe , Asia , and Africa . As of 2024 , registration to Telegram requires either a smartphone or one of a limited number of NFTs issued in December 2022. As of July 2024, Telegram has more than 950 million monthly active users, with India leading in
15867-841: Was later repealed by the Congress-led UPA government in 2004. The Modi government has conducted several strikes on territory controlled by neighbouring countries on counterterrorism grounds. This included a 2015 Indian counter-insurgency operation in Myanmar against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland , the 2016 Indian Line of Control strike in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the 2019 Balakot airstrike in Pakistan. It also militarily intervened in defence of Bhutan during
15996-490: Was provided as an explanation for its defeat, as was its divisive policy agenda. In May 2008, the BJP won the state elections in Karnataka . This was the first time that the party won assembly elections in any South Indian state. In the 2009 general elections , its strength in the Lok Sabha was reduced to 116 seats. The election campaign would be the final for Advani as leader. The party would be led by Arun Jaitley in
16125-403: Was seen as an attack upon Hindus, and sparked off massive anti-Muslim violence across the state of Gujarat that lasted several weeks. The death toll estimated was as high as 2000, while 150,000 were displaced. Rape, mutilation, and torture were also widespread. The then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and several high-ranking government officials were accused of initiating and condoning
16254-411: Was successful in ousting them from the previously Indian-controlled territory. After the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the NDA government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act . The aim of the act was to improve the government's ability to deal with terrorism. It initially failed to pass in the Rajya Sabha ; therefore, the NDA took the extraordinary step of convening
16383-465: Was the first time Twitter took restrictive action against an Indian political personality. Malviya had posted an edited video of an incident from 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest that violated Twitter policy towards fighting the spread of doctored media. According to the Washington Post , 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority across
16512-523: Was the first time religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law . A report by the V-Dem Institute described India as experiencing democratic backsliding due to the Modi era . Various other studies and media sources also cite India experiencing democratic backsliding. This is considered the most notable challenge to India's democracy since the authoritarian Emergency years of 1975–77. The party along
16641-434: Was unsuccessful, as it won only two Lok Sabha seats in the elections of 1984 . The assassination of Indira Gandhi a few months earlier resulted in a wave of support for the Congress which won a record tally of 414 seats, contributing to the low number for the BJP. The failure of Vajpayee's moderate strategy led to a shift in the ideology of the party toward a policy of more hardline Hindu nationalism. In 1984, Advani
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